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Posts: 1719
| Do you find that to be true when trolling with all baits? Does it apply to all season or do you increase size the later in the year it gets? |
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Posts: 112
| Rule of thumb- yessir, all year. I don't change crankbait size based on broad seasonal trends, but rather smaller trends like cold fronts, patterns I'm noticing, etc. Even caught em on 15" cranks during opener. Smaller can sometimes work better- if they're targeting 10" ciscos, a 10" cisco colored bait has sometimes been the ticket. Of note is that people always talk about crankbait "bigness" in length, but rarely thickness- a 13" grandma has a completely different profile than a liplock. I've sometimes had the liplock the first bait back in the wash and have a smaller bait go off behind it, with the fish opting for the smaller (relative term) bait.
But literally the smallest I'll troll is 10" unless I'm deliberately targeting pike too. I've never had luck "matching the hatch" with anything smaller- like trolling smaller perch or bluegill sized baits. Disclaimer is I'm not a guide, and I fish MN/Northern WI/Ontario. I'm sure Green Bay guides who troll 5-6" perch colored cranks will have a completely different opinion  |
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Posts: 20212
Location: oswego, il | Depends on where you live and where you fish. Perspective will change with that. Your's is definitely a Minnesota perspective. I've done very well downsizing in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and 6" baits on LSC. |
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Posts: 1240
Location: Walker, MN | A simple (not always so simple) game of match the hatch. Most ciscoes are 10"-15", whitefish a bit bigger. If they are feeding on perch, shiners or shad, they might prefer 5"-10" baits. I'll lean toward the bigger side of things near big basins, I believe larger baits have more drawing power for a hungry fish. If a fish is stuffed full of bait, they might be more selective. |
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Posts: 1341
| In Wisconsin I like 5"-8" lures. Tom Gelb wrote of finding 5" Golden Shinner in one of his large fish and the large fish liking easy to inhale forage. I've tried pulling 13" Grandmas in Minnesota and nothing and boat partners pulling 10 Jakes and large sized Ernie and catching fish. I own some big stuff but for me 5"- 8" has been the ticket. |
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Posts: 199
| The 22 longs and 7.5 hex have been good in Northern WI this summer. Once the water cooled our most recent trolling fish was on a 10" hex night trolling. The 22 longs do benefit by adding a split ring. |
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Posts: 333
Location: SE Wisc | Green Bay fish like small bait trolled. Rapala Super Shad |
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Bigger is better